The New Norm
by Risari
Summary: One moment, I was just your average nurse simply working for a living. Now, I was here trying to fight for my life as Raccoon City became Hell on Earth. Survival was the name of the game; how I'd play it, I didn't know. I might as well flip a coin and hope that there was someone out there in this godforsaken place.
_**Author's Note:** _ So this is my first Resident Evil fanfic that I decided to write while having a marathon of playing almost all of the Resident Evil games. (At least, the ones I own, anyways.) I'm still hesitant in wondering if I should continue this. At any rate, the story will comply with canon. So don't worry about anything getting out of hand. I tried my best to make sure things have complied with the canon timeline, but Capcom made it really screwy. So at any rate, hope the attempt is good enough. Please correct me if I have some info or stuff wrong.

 _ **Extra Note:** _ The protagonist will remain unnamed. However, pronouns should indicate what gender they are. At any rate, here is the story!

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Resident Evil or any of it's characters.

* * *

 ** _September 18th, 1998._**

My routine was completely normal that day. Just going into my day shift in one of the many hospitals that Raccoon City had. I clocked in, greeting some of my colleagues. I usually ate my breakfast with them at the staff room, some topics coming up. However, the biggest issue was the recent unknown virus that another hospital was dealing with.

"Did you hear that another case of that unknown disease was brought to Raccoon General Hospital?"

I took a bite from my scrambled eggs. "Really now? How many patients has it been already?"

"The number isn't certain but at this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if we end up having those patients soon. I hear that hospital is being filled up with patients."

"Right." Finishing the last of my breakfast, I tossed my plate away into the trash bin. Normally, I would have been interested in this kind of stuff, being a medical nurse myself. Well, nursing wasn't my only option. Initially, I wanted to be a virologist but the pay wasn't all that great; still didn't mean I could study about viruses. I still had enough knowledge about most of them, but this disease that my colleagues were talking about was quite… peculiar.

This information was confidential to the news, considering how the spread of this new disease was going about. The media didn't want to panic the citizens in the news, but us, the actual hospital staff understood the new disease was spreading quickly. From the journals of other nurses and doctors who worked with those patients – for we didn't know what to name them – they all had similar symptoms. Psychotic rage, increased hostility, and persistent hunger were the key link into identifying the recent cases were all linked to one another.

"Move out of the way folks, we've got a patient coming through!" One of the paramedics rushed in with the gurney. Even from the corner of my eye, I noticed something wasn't… right about that patient. The color of their face wasn't the normal blue that you would expect from someone suffering from cyanosis – a lack in oxygen – but it was almost deathly pale.

The colleague who had talked about our hospital having one of those patients merely looked at me with a smirk. "See. What did I tell you?"

Again. I would have been interested if it weren't for the rapidly alarming number of cases. Especially with how those patients were described as being.

"I guess you're right."

"Hey, what are you two doing gossiping around? Get back to your stations!"

I gave him an awkward smile. "I guess I'll see you later then."

* * *

 ** _September 22nd, 1998_**

In an unusual turn of events, I was given the night shift. Why? Well, too many of my colleagues were already exhausted from doing so many hours of mandatory overtime or becoming sick. It turned out that patient was quite tough to handle or even manage. Despite what the doctors and staff could do… it took a disastrous turn; so I heard from the staff when I went in during my shift that evening.

The patient, who the doctors presumed was dead, had risen up from his bed and began devouring a nurse's arm, causing the other staff members to panic and call security. At least, that was what the story went when I asked why the third floor of the hospital was cut off.

"You're just going to have to do your job somewhere else, alright?" The woman at the front desk gave me a stern look as if she were questioning why the hell I would still be showing up to work.

"Right… " Checking my schedule, I raised an eyebrow. "Wait. Why am _I_ in charge of the death certificates? I'm a nurse for crying out loud."

"So many people died in the past few weeks, obviously. Besides, this isn't any different from writing death certificates." She shrugged, adding on before I could protest. "The order is coming from higher up. Just go to the morgue."

I simply did what was asked, going inside the elevator. The hospital had its own morgue, located in the basement floor. It was where people put the deceased to make sure that their death certificates were filled out and applied with the most accurate autopsy reports. Why the hospital staff had me, a simple nurse, do the work instead of the specialist registrar was questionable.

If I knew I would be working in the morgue, I would have brought a jacket. Unfortunately, the temperatures were near freezing temperatures in order to keep the bodies intact. Most of the bodies were either in body bags or nearly exposed due to being recently incarcerated in here. Sighing, I went over to the desk where the registrar had the necessary paperwork to fill out the death certificates. With a clipboard in hand, I went by each patient that was given an identification number.

However, the noise of something shuffling inside a body bag was what alerted me that something was wrong. I don't know how or why but there was just this gut feeling that came over me. Turning around to the source, my eyes widened to the size of saucers.

The body bag was actually starting to move as if the person hadn't died.

What was going on?

Not knowing what to think of this, I walked backwards, trying to comprehend what I was seeing. My look of awe turned into one of horror when the body bag itself got ripped to shreds. Sitting up from its position was the face of decaying flesh. The eyes were blank, devoid of color. The person seemed as if it were almost transparent for I could clearly see the defined muscles and veins running down it's arms; the deathly pale skin made me gasp.

This patient had the same virus like the person who was brought in. The groaning from this corpse made me glance from the corner of my eye, noticing the neon red emergency box that held an axe. Why it was in a morgue, don't question me about it, but with the way how this decaying corpse was coming towards me with its arms outstretched – its mouth opening and closing as if it wanted to chew at my flesh – I quickly scurried over to break open the box.

With a loud crash, the glass broke into pieces, exposing the emergency axe. Even though I held the weapon in my hand, I was still nervous, not sure what the hell to think of this moment. In the medical field, someone would have called the idea of the dead coming back to life as impossible or a miracle; but would it truly have been a miracle of biblical proportions if the dead looked like _this_? A monster?

Out of fear, I swung the axe at the corpse's head. My aiming must have been on point for the head was decapitated from the corpse's body, but my fear reached new heights when the body was still heading towards me with blood gushing out from where the head was originally attached. My heartbeat was racing until the body suddenly collapsed onto the floor with in a pool of its own blood. Breathing a sigh of relief, I thought I had a break.

The loud blaring of the sirens that only went off during something disastrous in the hospital caught my attention. "Warning, warning. The intercoms blasted through the sound system. This is not a drill. Everyone, please evacuate the premises." The monotone voice of the pre-recorded female voice droned throughout the speakers.

Oh god. This wasn't looking good at all.

Not wanting to take chances, I exited out of the morgue, using the elevator.

But what about the others?

Stumbling out of the elevator doors, it seemed the hospital didn't look like I had seen it either. Everything was all propped up and organized when I first entered but now everything looked as if it had been ransacked. Vases were shattered to pieces, screaming could be heard from down the hall. My nose scrunched up when I smelled the familiar scent of copper – meaning someone had just died.

Callahan, the colleague I was talking with the other day, wore a look of terror on his face. He grabbed my shoulders, shaking me and spoke frantically.

"C'mon. We need to get out of here and get to the police station." This made me wonder why the hell the police station seemed to be the best place. However, curiosity got the best of me.

"W-what? Why? What's going on?"

"The dead are rising! There's no time, we've gotta go." He tugged my arm that wasn't holding the emergency axe.

"What?! No! Absolutely not! I don't care if we can be evacuated. I'm not leaving here until I'm very certain it's safe out there." My answer was enough to make him bolt out of the double doors of the hospital. He didn't really care at all what happened to me. Curiosity got the best of me and I couldn't help but peer outside from the double doors. There were thousands upon thousands of people screaming and panicking as they were all headed in one direction; it was almost like a stampede.

That was the last time I ever saw Callahan's face.

* * *

 ** _September 29th, 1998_**

I somehow managed to hack and slash my way through the second floor of the hospital and found a hiding place, staying there for about a week. My eyes glanced down at the axe I held in my hand. It really was a blessing to find the weapon, but hacking and slashing was all I really knew how to do at this point. I'll admit it wasn't very easy to have to actually _kill_ people who once worked with me in cold blood, but the fact they lost their humanity brought chills down my spine.

I honestly wondered if staying in this hospital was a bad call. After I had killed so many corpses, it was just deathly silent. So silent you could probably hear a pin drop. I searched through the hallway of the vacant rooms, raising my axe along the way just in case I encountered another one of those monstrosities again. In one of the rooms I managed to find a backpack. If I had to exit the building soon, this would have to do. As if it were a blessing, I managed to find a completely loaded pistol, complete with a holster and some ammo from one of the corpses that belonged to a security guard. When I felt something wet, though, I couldn't help but looked up.

I wish I hadn't.

From above the ceiling was a creature of some sort. It had no skin at all; only its muscles showed. This was different from those damn zombies I had hacked to death; the significant aspect was the exposed brain tissue that came out from this creature. It made a breathy-like hah sound, making me gulp. The thing opened its mouth, showing it's elongated tongue.

 _Oh god. What do I do?_

Not taking any chances, I bolted out of the room, pushing one of the crates that were left out in front of the door. Whatever this thing was, it was going to be very persistent for the banging it made on the other side of the room was getting increasingly louder. I had to move fast and think of what I was going to take. Running to the nurse's station, I only saw herbs – these were herbs used when medicines didn't work on sick patients, herbal remedy to be precise.

I grabbed the various green and red ones, not sure if whatever that disease would infect me. Not that I didn't want to think about it. A loud bang of the door opening alerted me that whatever thing was in that room broke free. It made a loud high pitched growling noise; the sound of its steps getting louder made me quickly rush back into the hallway. From ahead, I saw the elevator that would lead me to the first floor.

 _Oh thank the-_

I screamed when another one of those creatures suddenly dropped down from one of the vents. It growled at me before preparing itself for a lunge. I ran past it as it jumped, making the thing miss me. Getting inside the elevator, I quickly pressed the close door button as the two creatures were quickly gaining momentum and speed to try to get me. One of them, however, managed to get it's head caught in between the doors, making me scream because the elevator was jammed.

I didn't need _this_ right now.

In an instance, I swung my axe over its head, decapitating the creature and making the elevator move again. I didn't want to look down at the floor in what felt what was like the longest elevator trip in the world. With a loud ding, the elevator doors opened. The emergency lights were still flashing red, lighting up the main floor with an ominous red hue. I made my way through the double doors, opening it.

I had no idea that the entire city would look like a hellhole in a week.

Fires lit up various stores left and right, trucks had been tipped over, broken windows of stores that had probably been ransacked a week before. As I was maneuvering what I thought were the empty streets of Raccoon City, there was that familiar groaning that I had heard before – the same one that I heard in that damn body bag. The sound of shuffling, feet being dragged, made me aware that there were more of those zombies in this town – or whatever remained of Raccoon City.

With my axe in hand, I simply spoke to myself, mostly commenting on my axe.

"Well, at least I've got you."

And with a swing, another head detached itself from the body.

* * *

 _ **Ending Notes:**_ Hope this was good enough. Personally, I feel there's a lot that could use a lot of work but I hope the OC is okay enough so far. I wanted to explore things from a different perspective even though Resident Evil: Outbreak definitely did that.


End file.
